Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Rajasthan are among the top five States which reported a maximum decline in the sale of liquor while Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh have witnessed record sales between July and September, during the unlock period this year. The liquor industry has reported a decline of 8.98 per cent at 78 million cases in this period in the IMFL segment. Though the pan-India liquor sale has improved in the second quarter, it was the first quarter (April-June) which did the maximum damage. Last year, the liquor industry had sold 85.7 million cases (9 litres each) during the same period last year.
As per data compiled by liquor industry, As per data compiled by liquor industry, the sale of liquor dropped by 51 percent in Andhra Pradesh, 40 percent in Chhattisgarh, 39 percent in Jammu and Kashmir, 22 percent in West Bengal and 20 percent in Rajasthan. On the other hand, Punjab recorded over 20 percent growth, Haryana 17 percent, Uttarakhand 15 percent, Telangana seven percent and UP six percent in the liquor sale. These states stayed away from imposing high Corona taxes.
To improve the sale, the Andhra Pradesh government has recently cut down the price of Indian Made Foreign Liquor in the medium and premium categories by at least 25 to 30 per cent, citing instances of ‘smuggling’ from outside the state.
“Complete ban on liquor sale during lockdown followed by imposition of steep corona tax in some states have led to a drop of 29 percent in sale of liquor across India in the first half of the current fiscal. Situation has been worse in states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Rajasthan where sales have seen a steep decline as these states have imposed a corona tax on liquor. Sales were nearly 30% below the same month last year in September. Also, the quantum of decline in sales was in clear relation to the quantum of tax imposed,” said Vinod Giri, director general of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC).
For the first half of the fiscal (April-September), all India sales volume growth for the IMFL segment was down 29.06 per cent to 122 million cases, in comparison to 172 million cases in during the same period last year. Leaving out April, when the entire liquor trade was shut down under lockdown, the sales growth for the period May to September in 2020 was (minus) 16 per cent over the same period last year,” said CIABC.